Show your insanely modified basses

So I'm on the cusp of doing a lot of mods on a Squier I just got. My mind is reeling with thoughts of things to do...

Please inspire me with your drastically modified basses.
Extra pickups, headless conversions, hundreds of knobs and switches, things like that. I would like to see them, please!
They don't have to be Squiers or cheap basses either! Anything that is drastically different than it began.

So I'm on the cusp of doing a lot of mods on a Squier I just got. My mind is reeling with thoughts of things to do...

Please inspire me with your drastically modified basses.
Extra pickups, headless conversions, hundreds of knobs and switches, things like that. I would like to see them, please!
They don't have to be Squiers or cheap basses either! Anything that is drastically different than it began.

GO!

Click to expand...

I wish I could show you the mods but I also am still on the cusp!

But here's the teaser: It's going to be a mod to my G&L L2500 Tribute where I add a third pickup. This has already been tried by a TBer (see the three pickup thread) and I think it's pretty successful. And the Tribby is already pretty electronically modded with the K-mod (way back when Daveplaysbass figured it out) and the OMG mod is push-pull on the treble control. Originally I had a K-mod where you had a switch where you could choose inside or outside coils. I took it off though because I always used outside coils. I put an LED in the switch hole and now the bass is no longer powered by a battery but by "phantom" power over a TRS stereo cable.

I know, I know, what's the big deal? Well the big deal is that I'm going to add another three band preamp where the mode switch that now goes passive, active, active high boost, will then go passive, active, and three band preamp! Dig! It's going to be an L2500 AND a M2500 in ONE BASS!

Does a modded mim fender j bass count? Its routed for a p bass pickup at the neck. Its wired in stereo rick style where if you plug into one jack its both pickups with a volume for each pickup but if you plug into the other jack it splits them so you can run fuzz one one and keep the other clean or whatever you want to do. Its also got the gloss sanded off with 0000 steel wool. Soon I plan to black everything out kind of like the stealth stingray. Ill post some pictures if you are interested.

Malak the MadOver the River and through the Looking GlassSupporting Member

rojo, this is an example that may not be clinically "insane", but I'm proffering it up as a mod that is as fun as it is cheap. Specifically, it's about pickguards&#8230;

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I thought the stock black/white/black pickguard on this Blacktop Jazz was a little plain. I was leaning strongly towards getting a custom-cut black/red/black, but didn't want to shell out a lot of bucks for it. So instead, I crawled into the headspace from my art-school/amateur-illustrator days. What you're looking at is two layers of red Sharpie marker, which was just as effective and (surprise, surprise) a whole lot cheaper!

There is a bit of a trick to it, though, so I shall explain for anyone who's interested.

1. Take the guard off the bass. I know it's a "well duh!" thing to say, but it should be said regardless.

2. It's best if the guard you're working on still has it's clear protective coating. It'll keep any stray marks from getting on the front. If it's been discarded, be careful and patient when applying.

3. One layer might not look very uniform or a little splotchy. Let the first dry for about an hour&#8230;longer if the humidity is high. Then re-apply another layer.

4. After drying for another hour, lay the guard onto a flat surface. Take a paper towel and fold it up a bunch of times to create a burnishing surface. Rub the inked edge with a decent amount of force to remove the excess dye. Do several passes all around and keep switching up the portion of towel you're using, otherwise you're just rubbing loose dye back onto it. Eventually you will get little-to-no dye coming off. And then you're done!

I've done with with red and blue, each of which have yielded interesting results. For example, one layer of dark blue looks blue. But if you lay down a second layer, you get a blue/purple scarab effect when under strong light. In other words, the more you add, the more your results may vary, as seen in the attachment below.

Look carefully where the output jack goes. Despite the mediocre light this was taken under, you can make out a little purple.{}

I did an even better job on another blueburst body recently, along with some other mods. I'll post more detailed pics when I can get better weather for proper photos.

This is an SX fiver that I modded about six or seven years ago . Some of the mods aren't obvious like the foil shielding and the battery route under the pickguard and wax potted pickups . The ones that are are the roller string tees , Audere preamp and Hipshot bridge . When I bought the bass it had a Rosewood board so I bought the Maple/block and bound neck from Rondo and replaced the original . It was a pretty killer bass .

Started life as a $500 Dillion SCPB. I removed the single coil pickup because it was weak and noisy.

Routed for Seymour Duncan SSB4's in the same spots as Thunderbird pickups, and removed the gloss off the neck. Then I stripped and repainted with Duplicolor Pacific Green metallic (same color as my neighbors Camaro!!)

Vaccaro 5 string. Mahogany body made in the shape of the original, pulled the dots and filled them with lacquer stick (in retrospect I wish I'd used a Sharpie), Bart pickups from a Roscoe (sounds best with the neck solo'd), Aguilar preamp, bakelite knobs from the TB classifieds. Plays well but needs a setup. A little on the heavy side (10 pounds more or less). I tried using Hipsot tuners but the nuts don't thread all the way tight due to the thin headstock.

Ha, I remember these trolls from another thread! Mine's not vinyl, though, it's probably polyester - it's a fake LV scarf glued to a bass and lacquered. That's probably perfectly sane, though. I mean, it's not like I used a real scarf that would be worth a lot more than the bass.